#chapter1;

James could feel it coming on, as his leg began to shake uncontrollably and his heart felt like it was beating right out of his chest. He was always a nervous, paranoid soul and the fact that the world was full of skin-eating monsters didn’t really help to calm him down. Getting high or drunk had always helped that, back before the world was falling apart. Now nothing seemed to help, except when James’ body took over and shut down.

Today was a bad day. The group was on the move, which always made James nervous because he knew that they would eventually run into more of those...things. If James was honest with himself, he had no idea how he had survived this long. He saw an opportunity to separate himself from the group, when they were all distracted doing other things. He sat himself against the building where he thought no one would be able to see him, removed the used cigarette from his jacket pocket and lit it with one of the last matches he had. As he took his first puff, he heard someone--or something--approaching.

James had long since separated from the group who still seemed to be searching the hardware store. He wasn’t sure what exactly they were looking for or what anyone had found. All he knew was that it was starting to get dark and he was tired of searching. His bones ached and he could feel a headache starting to form between his temples. At the back of the hardware store, he noticed a discarded backpack. Riffling through it, James managed to find a nearly empty bottle of Vodka. Without even thinking about it, he took a sip.

When he turned, he noticed someone standing in the distance. It was hard to see who exactly it was because they were back-lit by the setting sun. James formed an awkward smile and raised his hand to wave at whoever it was, hoping they were an alive person.

James was never good at social interactions but he knew that it was essential in something like the apocalypse. He had spent a long time by himself even before the world started to fall apart so trying to acclimate back into being somewhat normal was a lost cause. He mostly kept to himself, only interacting when he absolutely had to.

Today the group happened to come across a hardware store and everyone collectively seemed to agree to see what was inside. James, not having much of an opinion on the matter, seemed to get paired up. As everyone else went on their way, James stood awkwardly for a moment. “Uh” his low, growling voice felt like it echoed even though it was barely audible “So I guess we just--” he didn’t wait for the response of the other person before moving forward, nervously playing with the zipper on his jacket.